Thursday, January 31, 2013

It has been one heck of a week. After traveling for 99% of January, I am pooped. Absolutely pooped. Colorado, Texas, Colorado, Texas, Boston, Texas. Ahh!

I arrived back in Texas on Monday, only to send my precious hubby off to South Carolina for a work conference. I felt sorry for him that he had to go "work"....

...until I kept getting pictures like this sent to me!

Text from Chris: "Morning beara" (his nickname for me)

Text from Chris: "It's tough at these conferences :-)"

I so do not feel bad for him having to go straight from Boston to "work." He was rubbing it in as much as he could.

Conversation Wednesday night:

Chris: "Babe, guess what I had for dinner tonight?"

Me: "What honey?! Seafood?"

Chris: "Nope, duck! What did you have?"

Me: "Grilled turkey and cheese sandwich..."

Chris: "Mine was WAY better!"

Ugh!

So, while Chris was off to eat duck and sip wine on the beach all for a "work" conference, I was lugging myself through the Baltimore airport and decided I should treat myself to this little bit of heaven. It was delicious.

At least I got to come home Monday night to these babies...I apologize for Wrigley's awkward head tilt. Weirdo.

And of course I bribed them with cheese. They will do ANYTHING for cheese. When Daddy is away, Mommy and the puppies will play eat grilled cheese and get on the couch when they aren't supposed to...shhh...don't tell :)

Seriously though, HOW do you EVER resist these faces?!

Good 'ol college-style dinner...grilled turkey and cheese.

Okay, I have a confession:

The turkey we had was expired by like a day...it was a brand new package, so I used a couple pieces on my sandwich and gave the rest to the puppies. Yes, I gave my dogs an entire package of turkey meat, and I think I made their day because of it! Plus, they are total stalkers and won't leave me alone when I scarf my food, so I had to distract them.

Happy Friday, peeps!

What are you plans this weekend?

My Mister is off to play golf on Saturday (does he stay on vacation!?) and I am aiming to unpack all our suitcases before our CLEANING LADY comes! Yes, you read that right. I mentioned a couple months ago that I was dying to get someone to come clean our house and I am super-duper excited for her to come. I cannot keep up with the housework all while being a tax accountant, grad student, and wife. If my IG (@sarahtuckerup) is full of spick-and-span house pictures this weekend, I apologize in advance!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

When I first decided on my 2013 resolution I knew I needed to pick up and organize my closet. It looked like WWIII up in this hiz-house...okay not the whole house, but the closet for sure. I usually get home from work, head straight to the closet and change into my lounge clothes. I throw (literally) my shoes in a huge pile, throw my clothes in another pile, and head to the kitchen to make dinner. After a while it truly seems like a war zone in that space.

Staying organized is one of the biggest components of staying focused on a goal. I have a whole year of no shopping and I don't want to be in a cluttered closet thinking "I have nothing to wear!" all because my space is not organized. My goal this year it to actually wear every piece in my closet. Every.single.piece.

I don't have any fancy-schmancy hangers (although tossing the wire ones are on my to-do list!! so annoying) or plastic contraptions that spit out my outfits for each day. My dream is Cher's closet on Clueless! Anyone agree? Just to be able to push a button and wa-laaa! Ah, I sure am a dreamer lately :)

First things first was to get my shoes in order. Chris, if you are reading this, no I don't want to get rid of any shoes. I like, and wear, them all, honey! Shoes are my weakness. They are like icing on the cake. An outfit can be so blah, then when the perfect shoe is put on (much like in Cinderella) it transforms you into an instant state of happiness. Can I get an amen?!

Everyone is different when organizing their shoes. For me, I need to be able to see all my shoes if I am going to wear all of them. If they are thrown on the ground in a large pile (as they were ten minutes prior to this clean up) it is hard to get a feel for all of your shoes and you end up wearing the same shoes over...forgetting about the gems hidden in the back! It was like Christmas morning finding all the shoes I had forgotten about!

Every morning I would be stressed out searching through this pile looking for a shoe's mate. When you are early already 10 minutes late for work and you can't find your (bleeping!) shoe it makes you want to start your whole outfit over!! I have been guilty of that, but alas, not anymore!

Doesn't this make you instantly happier for me and my stress levels?! Ahhhh...

Chris calls this my hooker heel section. He obviously has no idea what is fashionable these days. He can't simply see that fact that I just want to be taller, ehhhh closer to heaven :)

Sometimes he specifically requests me NOT to wear those shoes with the coral on them if we are going on a date. I can't say that I always grant his wishes!! Hey, I won't be able to rock those babies forever! Plus, it makes me giggle when I get compliments on them and I look at Chris and he rolls his eyes as I say, "Told you they were cute!"

This trusty tub has been with me for yearsss. My poor Dad would complain every time I moved about having to lug this thing around. Thanks, Dad, you da best!! In college all of my shoes were smashed in here and I neglected 99.9% of them. Poor shoes. Luckily, playing softball in college meant we were in tennis shoes or cleats all day everyday, so half of my shoes never made their debut until I stopped playing!

Since there are no true seasons here in good 'ol Texas, I have no reason to store away my "winter" shoes. Yesterday I was wearing sandals and today I am back to boots with the furrr a jacket. Kinda annoying when you dress for the 70's in January (yes, yesterday was 77 and today it is 50), only to walk to your car after work and be met by an arctic freeze.

Now onto how I organized my clothes for the year!

I decided the way to get through the year without DYING to have new clothes is to ACTUALLY wear ALL the clothes I already own. Some of the pieces may not be my favorite, but as long as I don't go to work naked, I can bear the thought of not having a super-cute outfit for one day. Two days in a row, and I might lose it ;)

I separated a row in my closet for "clothes that have been worn this year" and "clothes to be worn." It is described in the picture below. Basically, I wear a shirt, wash it, and hang it back up on the left side. I don't do the same for pants because I am obviously going to have to repeat those. There are over 50 shirts on the right side! Yikes! Some of them have only been worn once. Plus I can pair them with cardigans, or layer them for different looks. This "separation" system has been working great so far! If I am going to run to the grocery store really fast, or to church, I try to grab from the "already worn" side, just so I can make sure I get full use out of all my items.

The way the right side is organized is by color, and then it separates to sleeveless. Black, black patterned, brown, brown patterned, blue, yellow, white, etc. It really helps sorting my shirts by color category and makes for an easy morning of getting ready.

Opposite of the shirts is my winter coats and fancier dresses. Basically items of clothing that are only brought out once in a blue moon. I always thought I HAD to have a new dress for an event. I am embarrassed to say that at least five of the dresses hanging here have only been worn once. Ahhh I am ashamed. Good thing we have numerous weddings, my MBA graduation, my little brother's high school graduation, and my SIL's college graduation all coming up this year! These dresses will finally get some use! Plus, my SIL is awesome about letting me borrow the numerous dresses she bought for her sorority events. She's the best SIL ever. Seriously, sorry, she takes the cake.

To the left of the coats, and the right of the shirts, we have the jeans, skirts, and casual dresses area. I will be honest, I need to get rid of half my jeans. The reason I can't budge is because a lot of them are Seven's and it is like a punch in the gut 1) that I spent that much on jeans, and 2) to just giveaway expensive jeans like that. Some of them I have had since high school! They still fit, but I am definitely curvier than I was so they just look awkward. Pretty soon I am going to have a jeans-try-on day and whatever doesn't fit is going. End of story. There are three adorable girls that live a couple doors down who range in age from 6-18, so I know they would be happy to take them off my hands!

I don't have that many skirts and all of them have got great use. I have a couple pencil shirts from LOFT for work days when I need to be fancy, and then I have around five other casual skirts that I have gathered over the years.

The casual dresses are my favorite! I can wear them in the summer with flats, and in the winter with leggings and boots! Not dirtying a pair of jeans is always a win in my book!

To the left of the jeans starts my cardigans and blazers. I fold all my cardigans over the hanger to prevent those weird shoulder bubbles. You know what I am talking about? These items are sort-of tucked away in the corner because once summer hits, we can kiss all these babies goodbye until abouttt November. Seriously, there is never a reason for a cardigan in the summer in Texas. Never-evereverever.

Tee shirts. Oh the insane amount of tee shirts I own. Having gone to the same camp for 14 years, playing college softball, having a SIL that is a Pi Phi, and going on a ski vacation every year since I was six adds up to a lot of tee shirts. I also have a drawer in my dresser stocked full. Ugh. This area could really use a clean out as well, but tee shirts are my weekend go-to, so I don't feel bad for keeping them.

Up next is the stupid number of tennis shoes I have. And I only wear one pair. The rattiest pair. Typical.

I wore these Asics when training for my half marathon back in 2010. I honestly hate them. They are not that comfortable, but everyone insisted I get a pair. I wear them probably three times a year. But since I can't buy a new pair this year, and my favorite pair is on the verge of falling apart, these blue-babies might just weasel their way back to the top.

Mint condition Nike's that have only been slightly worn. I don't mind these, but they just aren't my favorite.

These were my first pair of "running shoes." Not "cross-training" shoes, running shoes. Superrrrr comfortable, but I ran in them so much they are only good for sporadic workouts. I need to buy a new insole for them. I'll put that on my to-do list :) For as long as I have had them (probably five years) they are in great physical shape, just a bit worn on the inside.

The old school Newbs. Not exactly a "workout" shoe. Everyone in college had them. They were great for walking to class in my fashionable softball sweats and over sized softball sweatshirt. Also, if I ever wandered into the gym, not with intentions of working out, but then randomly decided to play a game of racquetball or something, I was prepared.

These were my FAVORITE pair until I got the grey ones below. I wore them to workouts for softball in college and continued to use the heck out of them after that. They finally have a hole in the top...but that doesn't stop me from wearing them! Although, Sarah, you shouldn't be afraid to give these beauts a good cleaning...

And onto my faves. I bought these in March of 2010 and they have been my go-to-shoes ever since. I just love them. No particular reason, but I just do. The left shoe is about to get a hole in the top of the mesh where my big toe hits when I run. Don't think that will stop me from wearing these! You be trippin'! This may be the first pair of tennis shoes I actually wear until they fall apart!

One last pair I have are in my car. I keep them there just in case I have to fill in for a flag football game, or need to run from the cops. Just kidding, kind of :)

They are these:

These are another pair of my favorites! Of course mine are much dirtyier than these, but basically the same.

As you can see, I have enough shoes to last a life time. Seven pairs of okay to great tennis shoes. God is really opening my eyes and allowing me to see all that I have. If my grey shoes crumble, guess what?, I have six other pairs in perfect condition that will get me though my bi-yearly workouts!

Speaking of bi-yearly workouts...I signed up for a gym membership last week. I am on hold from working out for the time being because of a possible bulging disk in my neck from the Jog'r Egg Nog'r compiled with a ski wipe out that I experienced a couple weeks ago. I hadn't fallen in probably 6+ years, took one bad fall, and now my disks are bulging. I am getting old.

Speaking of getting old, my day of birth is next Friday...for all of you planning on getting me a present. Totally kidding, kinda :) Chris this is your warning, my BIRTHDAY IS NEXT FRIDAY.

Back to closet talk.

Ever since I did the closet clean up a couple weeks ago I have been keeping up with the shoe organization and separation of clothes. It is doing wonders for my resolution. Anytime I think I want something new I just look in my closet and think, "Now look at all the clothes you haven't even worn this year!" Eye-opener.

I will conclude this post with a couple other pictures and a shot of my jewelry organization. My jewelry is hung behind out closet door, which is perfect!

You can read all about the jewelry organizer here. It is so nice to have your jewels on display. You wear everything so much more!

Shoes...

...and shoes...

...and more shoes.

Thanks so much for sticking with me thought that whole post! Whew, clothes and shoes overload!

God is really working with me and I honestly have no desire to go shopping. Weird, but true. I have walked by stores ranging from Ross to Neimans and have not had one ounce of urge to go in. Truly a blessing and I know God is stirring in my heart and teaching me a lesson that will last a lifetime.

Looking at all I have is enough to thank God everyday. I have too many clothes, and too many shoes, and too much of a lot of things, and I am now realizing that. There are more important things to life than a closet full of clothes.

Can't wait to continue to see the changes taking place in my heart!

Have a perfect Thursday, everyone :)

PS: I am super giddy because I get to pick up my darling hubs from the airport tonight! Alone time is good, but I miss my best friend! Plus, getting his daily pictures of the beach is kinda unfair!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

"I am going to plan all these cute outfits and Chris will take my WIWW pictures in a historical park in Boston. It will be epic! I will frolic in the snow and look totally cute and not tired or jet lagged at all. I will have rosey cheeks and the cutest outfit and I will look just like a native Bostonian."

Fast forward to actually being in Boston and that whole dream went out the window. See ya dreamy plan of perfect pictures in the Boston winter; hello freezing temperatures, layers of jackets, and a snotty nose!

Having that tragic less than amusing story behind me, I can now reveal the two plain pictures in front of our hotel room door. Chris, the efficient photographer he is, snapped one and only one picture of the two following outfits.

Jacket: Kensie// Top: Random store in OKC mall// Jeans: The good 'ol Banana Republic// Boots: Oldie, but goody Steve MaddensAttention: I had been up since 3:30am when this picture was taken. I had not showered, I was starving, and less than amused that my fairy tale plan of pictures in the park was demoted to a white door in our room. Okay, the last part was a lie. All I was thinking about was food. And a shower.

Sweater: Forever 21// Jeans: Target// Boots: Steve Mads// Hair: Freshly washedAttention: Can you tell I am a bit refreshed? It is amazing what sleep and a shower can do.

You can see my other outfits I wore that were taken with my less than professional camera via IG (@sarahtuckerup) at this post here.

By the way, I am doing SO good with my resolution!!!!! I am not much for bragging, but I didn't even go into one clothes store the whole time we were there. We were even staying a block away from the famous Newbury Street that is lined with everything from American Apparel to Burberry. I was there for everything except shopping! Chris offered to buy me a Harvard shirt (was that a hint that he wanted me to look smart?), but I politely declined reminding him of my resolution :)

It is currently midnight, exactly, and I just submitted my discussion questions and quiz that were do due...at midnight tonight! I am so studious :)

Since I am already awake (and delirious)...and watching Teen Mom (don't judge) I figured I would write my post. I might be a zombie tomorrow at work, but watching Teen Mom writing a post for y'all is totally worth it!

It has been a longgg day of traveling. I didn't even make it home. Stopped at the in-laws to pick up the fubabies and never left. I need a day after vacation to recoup from vacation. That should be a law. Who agrees?!

Okay, since it is late, and I have misspelled every other word I have typed (true story), I am just leaving you with pictures of my outfits, no descriptions. Boo, I know. If you have questions on where something is from you can leave me a comment and I will be sure to answer! Also, I will try to come back and update this post at a later date when I am not drunk off Southwest Airlines peanuts and the lack of oxygen at 36,000 feet.

Monday, January 28, 2013

I'm still in Boston! I am headed back to the Lone Star State this afternoon, while Chris gets to continue on to South Carolina for a "conference"...aka bonus vacation! Not fair.

Boston has been nothing short of ah-mazing. Much like our honeymoon, we ate and ate and ate and ate. Sorry if you are from Boston, but the whole time I was here I was comparing it to NYC...my all-time favorite city.

What I gathered was:

- Boston is cleaner/doesn't smell as bad

- Friendly people are all over Boston....NYC not so much

- Boston is wayyyy smaller

- I still like NYC better, sorry. Not that I don't love Boston, I just really love NYC.

I will have a (few) recap posts later this week, but for now I will leave you with this view from our hotel and a picture of Chris and I when we were "defrosting!" Notice in the picture above, do you see the "Finish Line" across the road? That is the finish line for the Boston Marathon. Pretty cool!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

By the time you read this I - along with my Mister - will be flying high on our way to Boston. Woo hoo!

I give it approximately .125 seconds, once we are there, that someone comments on my southern twang. It has happened every.single.time. I am in the northeast. " Ummm, 'cuse me sir, tryin' to get to my bag. Thanks!" or "Do y'all know where I could find ___?" Dead giveaway.

You can take the girl outta Texas, but you can't take the Texas outta the girl :)

Right now I am sitting on the bed watching Chris try to pack. Have you ever watched an engineer pack a suitcase? Ha! It is a site. Everything has a place and the organization is unbelievable. Props to the hubs for his OCD packing skillzzz.

Now for some insta's from my week.

Chris put milk in the cereal and ate his cereal from the bag. Oh geez. After proclaiming that I live with a grown child on IG (@sarahtuckerup), Amber was quick to correct me. She was right, he was just trying to not dirty any dishes. What a smart man I married!

Can I start by saying that Maddie is the BEST?! See the box above?! She sent me a FULL box of clothes that she didn't want!! Since I can't shop this year (which is an easy resolution when you have bloggy-friends like this!) Maddie told me she would send me some clothes, and I accepted since that wasn't breaking my resolution rules! Thanks, again, Maddie!!

I would show you what was in the box, but you will find out soon enough :)

I had my first attempt at spaghetti squash this week. I cooked it correctly, but I am not sure how to season it. It was okay, but isn't my favorite. I need some tips on how to make it yummy, please!

I added a tad bit of butter, garlic powder, pepper, and Parmesan cheese...don't make fun of my lack in spaghetti squash seasoning knowledge.

Wednesday night I whipped up some meatloaf (recipe here), asparagus, and alfredo mac and cheese. The mac and cheese created quite a delicious stir on IG. Recipe in the picture below ;)

YUM

Well, I sure hope everyone has a glorious weekend! I will be eating my weight in clam chowder and desserts in Boston. Calories don't count on vacation, right?!

What are you doing this weekend? If you are in Boston, just look for the girl bundled up like it is -100 with a heavy southern accent!